Tag Archives: xbox

When the original Xbox was released it was an impressive machine with a very strong core but it still didn’t stand a chance against the Playstation 2. But when the mod chips where released it changed everything about the Xbox. Thanks to the mod chips that unlocked the Xbox and made it possible to create any software you wanted for it it changed from a console with a lacking game library to a supercharged multimedia center and emulator monster!
When a chip was installed in the Xbox you could install XBMC that could stream all your music and moves from your network. You could install linux and run it as a sever. Or you could install the many amazing homebrew games and emulator ports to play all your favorite retrogames.

I love retrogames and collect games and systems but I also love emulators and the Xbox has the best emulators and gamelaunchers for this! The retrogaming community has created some amazing applications for the Xbox where you have the entire library of retrogames complete with screenshots, movie previews, boxarts, manuals etc. Smart options where you can filter your games to find a certain genre or filter games after number of players etc. They are all pre-configured with the four gamepad slots on the Xbox so there is no need to configure anything, just connect your gamepads and start playing!

I just got my fourth Xbox recently and decided to make this the ultimate Xbox. I wanted to install a big harddrive and install the latest and best emulators out there. I’m going to walk through all the steps of the progress and what software I installed to create the ultimate Xbox setup.

More space
The original Xbox HDD only has an 8 Gig HDD, thats not much. But its possible to have your favorite emulators on this space. But its only the essentials, just roms not fancy stuff like screenshots, video previews etc. So its recommended to get an Xbox with a 120 Gig HDD or more to have room for all the cool stuff. They latest Xbox i got only had an original HDD so i decieded to take one of my old 200 Gig IDE HDD:s and install it. I followed this guide on youtube that described how to clone the original hdd to the new hdd. And it worked great. When i connected the new 200 Gig HDD it looked and worked just as the 8 Gig HDD that i just had disconnected but with much more space.

Step one, always install XBMC
There are many launchers for the Xbox, most often a modded Xbox comes with the “Avalaunch” that is a dashboard replacement that can launch other software from the Xbox. Its very simple and ugly so the first step is to install the latest version of XBMC.
XBMC is a gorgeous mediacenter for the xbox that can play media locally from the HDD or stream it from your network. It has support for 720 and looks amazing! It also works as a software launcher so you can run all your emulators and games from there. And it always runs an FTP server in the background which means that you can copy all the applications and games from your pc when XBMC is running.
When XBMC is installed i always make this my default dashboard, so when i start my Xbox it automatically starts XBMC as default. There are many guides on how to do this. Its really worth it!
Check if a new version of XBMC4Xbox is released on the official site: http://www.xbmc4xbox.org.uk/ and then you can download the installation from http://www.theisozone.com or google for it.

Transform your Xbox into an Arcade machine
The emulator and gamelauncher “CoinOps” is really amazing. As im writing this the latest version is CoinOps 5, and this version has support for 40 different gamingsystems and has support for 22,000 games! You can download and install the complete CoinOps 5 release that has over 3800 games installed all with movie previews. In the launcher you can filter the list in many ways to find the games you are looking for and with a press of a button you can add the games you like to your “favorites”.
The strength of the CoinOps launcher is that its so easy and fast to play games, they are all pre-configured with your gamepad, all you need to do is press a button and it starts. Just like a real coin operated game in the Arcades. But this is also its weakness, there is essentially no options. You cant configure anything, It has very bad support for gamestates etc. And if you want to play an rpg game where you want more control, better savestate support etc then CopinOps is not the best option. Therefore you need a better emulator for this, and that what im going to talk about next.

Xport and Ressurection Xtras
The Xport emulators is a lot of emulators created for the Xbox. Each Xport version is an emulator for a singel system and when you launch that emulator you have total control over how you want to to work! Everything works great from the start but you can change stuff as you please. You can reconfigure the controllers. Cnange the screen resolution and size. Apply filter effects. And you have great control over the savestates with many saveslots and small screenshot previews etc.
Later a group released the Ressurection Xtras addons to make the Xport emulators even better. They updated the emulators and fixed bugs and added new features. They created amazing themes to make it more beautiful and have support for 720. And in the launch list of your games you could now see a screenshoft of the game, a video preview and scans of the covers of the original games. These emulators is a must-have for the Xbox. You can download these emulators on http://www.emuxtras.net/forum/ or http://www.theisozone.com/

Homebrew and ported games.
There are many amazing games ported to the Xbox. For example you can now play old retro pc games like Doom and it runs perfectly. Indie games like Cave Story has also been ported. There are too many to list but some of my favorites that i really can recommend is the port of Super Mario War and Streets of Rage Remake All of these releases are available on isozone

High resolution
The Xbox has Component out support. This means that if you tv has a Component input you could get a 720 HD resolution with your Xbox and this is really recommended! A Component cable for the Xbox costs about $10 on eBay. All emulators i have mentioned above has support for the component cable and some original Xbox titles as well. If you are having problems with enabling the 720 resolution then you might need to change the region on the Xbox which is very easy using Enigmah, i wrote a tutorial for this here.

This is a tutorial describing how to listen to your own music while placing an Xbox game. Some games on the first Xbox had support for custom soundtracks, with this feature you could disable the original music in the game and listen to your own tracks. A really cool feature as some games had some really horrible music. Before i discovered this feature i used to disable the music in the games, leaving the sound effects on and play my own music from my stereo, it worked but this feature is even better 🙂

So this i what you need to do. The Xbox actually rips the music from an audio cd to the Xbox HDD, so you need an Audio Cd. Start the Xbox so it starts the beautiful green dashboard and then insert the audio cd. The music player in the dashboard should start. After this you can with a button press go into the menu where you can choose to copy music to the hard drive. Select all or pick your favorites. The cool thing is that you can create folders of music, think of it as mixed-tapes. You can create different mixed-tapes with music that you rip from different audio cd:s. When the coping process is done you can remove the audio cd and try a game that has support for the feature!

Every game has its own way of playing your own soudtracks, but usally its located in the options menu in the game. I made a video showing how i copied music from my Ridge Racer: Type 4 Direct Audio cd to play with Burnout 3. And it worked great! I might also transfer some of my Initial D music to the xbox, perfect when playing racing games 🙂

Here is a list of all games that are compatible with this soundtrack feature that i found on the Iso Zone compiled by patrick005.

Here is my little guide on how to get Streets of Rage Remake or ”SoRR” to work on your Xbox!

About SoRR and the Xbox version:
SoRR was released in 2011 by Bomber Games for the Pc. This amazing remake combined all the Streets or Rage games into one game adding hundreds of new features and upgraded graphics. SoRR has alternative routs with a total of 103 stages and 19 playable characters that you can unlock while playing the game.

When the final version of SoRR was released it did not take long before SEGA contacted Bomber Games and asked them to remove the game from there servers. Eight years of work for Bomber Games to make this amazing remake, just one week for SEGA to stop it. But thankfully its still possible to get if you look around on the net.

SoRR was only released for the Pc but was later ported to the Xbox by A600. And this is perfect because its so much simpler to play it from your Xbox. Great gamepad support and 720 resolution!

I must remind you, if you really want to play Streets of Rage Remake the easiet and most stable way to do it is on a Pc with Windows! I only wrote this guide for those who want to play it on an Xbox.

Oh and the music is really amazing, here is my favorite track fromt the Streets of Rage Remake ost:

The Guide:
And im now going to walk you through how to play this on your Xbox.

This is what you need:
A modded Xbox
An Ftp client
Streets of Rage Remake Final 5
xSorRv5

First you need to connect your Xbox to your local network and start a program on your Xbox that have and Ftp server enabled, im using XBMC. Then you need to connect to the ftp server on your Xbox from your pc with and Ftp client, im using the free client Filezilla.

When you have connected to the Xbox you need to browse your way to where the games are placed. For me its F:Games (it might not be the same folder on all Xbox versions, so you need to find it yourself) and just create a folder called SoRR like this: F:GamesSoRR

Now you need to download the files that you want to copy.

First you need the Xbox SoRR files that where created to make the actual game work on an Xbox. The original file is calledxSORRv5.zip but a critical bug was detected in this version that crashed the game after beating a boss, and this was fixed in an update. So its better for you to search for the updated version called xSorRv5_Update1.rar on google or go to www.theisozone.com

When you have the files just copy them to the new folder you have created.

After this you need the full version of the SoRR Pc game. To download this search for SORRv5.zip on google or go to www.theisozone.com and search for SORRv5

When you have the files you need to copy the following folders/files to the same folder

modpalettesSorR.dat

So the folder that is now located on your Xbox should look like this:

That’s it! Now the game should work! But there might be some small problems. I had some issues with the screen resolution. The size of the screen was to big and I couldn’t see the edges of the game. Thankfully its possible to change this in the file called xbox.cfg in the SoRR folder. As default x and ypos and x and ystrech are set to 0 but I had to change these. Im using a Hd tv and I have my Xbox connected with a Component cable. These are the settings I changed in the xbox.cfg file:

xpos=25
ypos=25
xstretch=-60
ystretch=-60
flickerfilter=1
720p=1

Unlock everything!
SoRR also has many cool stuff bonus stuff to unlock in the game! When playing the game you earn points that you later can spend in the shop section to unlock new characters, cheats, modes and more!
I already had a savefile on the Pc version that I had been playing. So I simply transffered this savefile to my Xbox version of SoRR, but that totally messed up the gamepad mapping for the Xbox version. And as the mapping is really strange in the Xbox Port it took me quite a while to fix this, but now its done and works great! So if you want to play the game with everything unlocked here is the savefile: https://www.box.com/s/ed6969fdb96d1290a9e5
the file needs to be copied to the savegame folder. But remember to make a backup of the savegame.sor file that already is there, just rename it or something.

The Creators of Mashed – one of the best party 4-player games ever created – has finally released its spiritual successor to Mashed. I have now had the time to play it and as a big fan of Mashed I was sadly disappointed on some of the parts. The creators of the team was asking the players to send them feedback and gameplay issues. So this is my mail to Supersonic Software. Keep reading to find out what i thought about Wrecked and what differed between it and Mashed.

Hi! As a big Mashed fan i just wanted to share my thoughts about Wrecked, and what can be changed and improved.

Me and my friends have played Mashed A LOT and we where really looking forward to Wrecked. We have discussed what we thought about Wrecked and what you could add/change to make it better.. or as we express it: Make it be more like Mashed.

If we look at just Wrecked and forget about Mashed, then its a great game! Its really fun and there is not much you need to change in the game to make it better. Execept small bug fixes and maybe add more levels etc.

But if we compair it to Mashed.. then there is A LOT of changes that need to be done! We where expecting that Wrecked was a “port” of Mashed with better graphic, more levels, weapons etc. But instead we got a new game, not what we where expecting. I don’t know what your aim for Wrecked is.. was it to make a game for the fans of Mashed or was the aim to make a new game for new players? As i said before new players that never played Mashed before will probably love Wrecked. But Mashed fans are disappointed. Me and my friends came up with the idea to add an option called “Mashed Mode” to essentially make Wrecked feel more like Mashed. Here is our list of changes that we feel that you need to adjust in Wrecked:

1. The Controls. We want the gamepad to have the same mapping as Mashed. Or at least the option to change the controls. Gas should be on the A button and use weapon on X etc (Xbox 360). Right now it works but as we have played hundreds of hours of Mashed we are used to our old controllers and we want it back in Wrecked!

2. Weapons. This was a disappointment in Wrecked. If you got the right weapon in Mashed this could be your key to victory. The Weapons in Mashed really did damage and your opponent knew that they could loose if you had.. say a Machinegun or a Missile. In Wrecked they weapons are weak and feel pretty useless. They don’t really harm or make the other players loose control. The Machinegun was feard in Mashed, in Wrecked it just tickle the opponents a little. When I play Wrecked i usually avoid picking up the machinegun. in Mashed the Missiles could throw the cars into the sky off the track, or crash them into the ground and get totaled. In Wrecked if you get hit by a missile you just do a little flip and then a second later you are back on the track. Weapons in Wrecked feels weak and useless. They need to be adjusted to be more like Mashed.

3. Physics. One of the most fun parts of Mashed is ramming your car into other opponents trying to get him out of the stage. Its great fun and it works so well! And Mashed has this align grid system so when you turn your car slightly to the left or right it automatically adjusts itself to drive in a strait line, which is very helpful on every ones favorite track Polar Wharf. Wrecked has lost all this. The car physics in Wrecked is really good, i love to drift in the corners. And that great feeling when i manage to get my car back on the track when almost falling of an edge, almost grinding in the edge of the track as an skateboard. Its great. But its no longer fun to crash into other cars as it was in Mashed. This needs to be adjusted.

And also fix so the axis don’t get inverted when we drive backwards. One of the funniest moments in Mashed was when the car got pinned around 180 degrees and we instead just drove backwards. The cars should always drive in the same speed even if they are driving forwards or backwards. The only thing that should be changes is that its a little harder to turn in corners when you are driving backwards. Just like it is in Mashed.

4. Turbo Boost. 3. 2. 1. boost! This is how we started a race in Mashed. Please bring this back to Wrecked. The new Boost that you can use whenever you want in Wrecked is a fun addition, its perfect to use when trying to knock and opponent out. But we feel that it needs more options. Please fix so we can limit it, maybe only use it 5 time on a race. Fix so we can add a cooldown time. And please add an option to disable it.

5. The Cars. In mashed there where many different cars. The look of the cars are not important, its how they handled! Some cars where faster, some where slower. Some had better handling and some had better drafting. Wrecked only has one car, why? Please bring this back so we have more cars. or just the option the change the stats of the cars.

6. The Maps. You brought back Polar Wharf.. we thank you for this! But we want more of the levels from the old game. At least 5 of the best levels. Or just add some more levels for free.

7. The Camera. Please adjust the camera so it shows more of the screen. Its very zoomed in and we cant see what infront of us. Please at least add option to select angle with the select button like all other car games.

My friends that are fans of Mashed are asking me if they should get Wrecked, right now im saying: no stick with Mashed. Friends that never have played the game before im saying: Get Mashed on eBay and play it on your original Xbox or Xbox 360 (thankfully its compatible with the 360). Its sad to say this but as fans of Mashed we are not satisfied with how Wrecked turned out. Please listen to the fans. The game you have created is good and fun! But please add this “Mashed Mode” Option for us Mashed fans and everyone will be happy!

My Xbox broke so i got a new one the other day, fixed with a duox2 chip and 80gig hdd. The plan is to install XBMC, Emulators etc. I have done this many times before so its nothing new. But i stumbled upon a big problem here.. no HD support! What? After checking the internet for information about this it seems that a PAL XBOX doesn’t have support for HD, that is 480p, 720p and 1080p.. this only works on an NTSC Xbox.. not PAL.. what gives? But after some researching i managed to fix this! And this is what i did.

I downloaded a free utility for the Xbox called Enigmah (the file is called video_select_v2_enigmah-x.rar ) and extracted it.. inside i found an .iso cd image.. i burnt it and tryed to boot it with my Xbox.. did not work! So i simply extracted the iso, to do this you need a special Xbox untility, there are many apps for this but i used gXiso (the install file is called gXiso-1.5-setup.exe ) After i extracted the iso i used my FTP client to copy the files to my Program folder on the Xbox.
Then all i did was to boot up XBMC, go to the Programs section and just select Enigmah and the utility started.

When you are in Enigmah, just press A to switch your Xbox to NTSC or B to switch it to PAL.. the screen just shows the text PAL or NTSC on the top of the screen, there is no confirmation button or anything witch is really strange because you dont really know it its been activated or not.. but i thas! So when you have the region to want just power off your xbox and start it again. Now you need to enable the HD. You can do this from the original Xbox dashboard somewhere in the settings but i did this from XBMC. You find this option under Settings / System / Video Output (on the left side)
Then just select 480p, 720p and 1080p so they are enabled. Now your games should have support for HD.. and of course you need the official HD component cable to get this to work.